Converting partial hospitals to community integrated recovery centers.

This paper describes the conversion of partial hospitals into recovery-oriented programs as part of system transformation. Steps included: participatory planning with stakeholders; strength based assessment of resources and needs; technical assistance; and changing funding strategies. Over a period of 8 years, use of partial hospitals decreased as persons with serious mental illnesses were transitioned to community integrated recovery centers.

West Texas nursing education portal project: developing a regional centralized application system.

Because of the nursing shortage and a demand for maximum enrollment, a group of five baccalaureate and seven associate degree nursing programs in West Texas first met in 2007 to form the West Texas Nursing Education Consortium (WTNEC). To emphasize the importance of scale and distance, the West Texas region is larger than all of the northeastern states combined. The founding group agreed that the first mission of WTNEC should be to pool resources in order to increase admission and graduation rates for WTNEC schools.

A regional simulation center partnership: collaboration to improve staff and student competency.

This article describes the development of a Regional Simulation Center by a hospital, university, and community college to provide competency education and validation for students, nurses, and other allied health staff. Using high-fidelity patient simulators and scenario-based simulations, bachelor's of science in nursing-prepared laboratory mentors provide realistic opportunities for hospital staff and students to validate their clinical judgment as well as their psychomotor skills. The process of development, as well as the advantages of the partnership for the hospital and the nursing programs, is outlined.